Was originally going to enter my boat with a couple board members (DMac and Carl) but after the postponement and predicted wave heights decided to bag it and fish my boat for fun....until my phone rang late Saturday afternoon. The "Bates" boat had an opening and offered me the invite. Battling 4-5' waves solo probably wouldn't have been fun, so I took them up on the offer.
Arrived at the boat at 5:00 with the idea of a 5:30 departure. Funny how plans change.
Boat was still on the rack and wasn't coming down until after 8:00. Time to go and eat like a gentleman! Haha!! Ran to Atlantic Highlands and had a sit down breakfast with a couple cups of Joe (and a cup of gai). Bwahaha!
Back to the boat and another hour we were on our way. Still a healthy swell out there, but the cuddy on the Grady plowed right through at 30mph. Again I found myself glad I wasn't on my boat. Set up deep without too much of a drift so bumped inshore. Bob B started us off with a 5# fish and I followed up with one close to it on spinning 1oz tackle. Tons of life but no more size. Headed back out deep with a few more fish, but no size. Made the call to run North and set up shop. Worked a nice line and was rewarded with a close to 7# fish boated by Al.
Called it and ran back in to weigh with 16.38#'s. Good enough for second at 4:00...but the row of boats with good fishermen behind us had us doubting our place in line. When we heard the top fish went from 8 to almost 9 1/2, we knew we were done.
Late start with a limit plus, and "could have been a contender" position for a bit was a strong effort. Had a good time and was glad I could contribute in some way. Thanks for the invite fellas!
Congrats to all who weighed in and finished in the dough!
